Mike Babcock
Mike Babcock
Michael "Mike" Babcock, Jr.is a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach, currently serving as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. He previously spent 10 seasons as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2008 and helped to the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year during his tenure. He holds the record as winningest coach in Red Wings history, surpassing that of Jack Adams. He has also served...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth29 April 1963
angles create net puck wide
You have to put the puck on net from wide angles to create opportunities.
composure lost puck settled turned
I don't know what happened. We lost our composure and turned the puck over and just couldn't get settled down again.
came great hard ice middle panic people plays puck tons work
It's not like we hadn't had tons of chances, we just weren't finishing. The big thing we wanted to do was not panic and just keep doing what you are doing, get people to the net, work hard at it and let's not be pressing. I thought we managed the puck well and made great plays in the middle of the ice and really came at them with some speed.
angles block net played puck
They did block a lot, but that's no different than the way they played all year. You've just got to find a way to get the puck to the net from a lot of different angles to get opportunities.
bigger chance digging puck shoot shot touched turned
They hadn't even touched the puck there in the third, and we turned it over and they shot it in our net. That's the only chance to shoot it, and, bang, it's in our net. And now we're digging out of a bigger hole.
defense discipline half puck second
I thought our discipline was good. Our defense really managed the puck. The second half of the game, they didn't have the puck much.
brother coached committed good guy hard older puck relative skill younger
He was as good with the puck and as hard on the puck as he is now, relative to the skill level. He was a committed guy then. I coached his older brother and his younger brother as well and they're good people.
drives gets goes hard magic net puck until
He's got a little magic going on right now. But he goes to the net hard and he competes hard, and that's what he does. He just drives the net every time. We know, and he knows, he doesn't want the puck until he gets to the paint.
bag both puck situations team time
You can try to bag the puck out of the zone, but we wouldn't be the team we are if we did. Those were both situations where we had time to make plays.
guys worked
We just rolled (the lines) one, two, three, four. It didn't matter. We let our guys go, and it kind of worked out well.
chance good hung job ourselves players took
We weren't ready. Between the players and myself, we didn't get the job done to get out and get started and get after them and set the tone. We hung on good enough defensively, and Manny was good enough to give us a chance to get ourselves going and then I think we took over.
best coach consultant game history phone talked
I've talked to Scotty a lot. The best reputation, the best record, the best coach in the history of our game is here as a consultant for us. All I've got to do is phone him and ask. He's unbelievable.
came chance cup finals game people period three tied win wins
It was unbelievable. Making the finals is one thing, but getting to a Game 7 and being tied in that game after the first period is another. A lot of people think they have a chance to win the Cup, but the only chance to win the Cup is when you have three wins in the final. It's something that I'll always remember, but in the end, we came up empty.
best classy coached easiest good guy humble key people players successful
I've coached some real good players -- he's the best player I ever coached. He's classy as they come, as humble as they come. This guy just makes people around him better, and that's the key to having a successful team. He's the easiest person I've ever coached.